Let's Go Up In Flames Together
by Safe.Place.To.Read
Summary: Before them, nobody had gotten freed from the A-Team without a sacrifice. Nobody had gotten freed from the A-Team, period. How and why were Spencer and Toby suddenly so different? The answer is they aren't; they really aren't that different at all. Desperate for blood, the A-Team wants them back, but S and T aren't about to let this go down without some sort of a fight. [on hiatus]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys! :) So it's been forever; sorry about that, seriously. I was caught up in finals and school and sports and all that, but now it's summer so the first two things in that list are knocked off for a while. But anyways! I promised a multichap, and I always at least try and follow through with my promises so here goes my attempt. I can't promise fast updates, because life is insane and I'm not prewriting these chapters, but I swear I will do my very best.  
**

**Before I go on, I really have to thank Tracey (phoenix9648) for everything that she contributed to this. She let me bounce ideas off of her, in all my crazy spazzyness, and in return she bounced some ideas off of me. Some of the wording in the last few paragraphs where Mona/Spencer/Toby have their little face off is inspired off of a rough draft that she sent me so if you see anything that sounds good/creative, it's probably her doing ;) But yeah. Honestly Tracey, you're literally a life saver. Thanks so much. **

**Anyways this a/n is longer than I'd planned (whoops), so I'll shut up now. Please please please review though? Please? I always love hearing your guyses thoughts :) **

* * *

It shouldn't come as a shock to either of the two that getting let off so easy from the A-Team had to have come with some sort of a price. Before them, nobody had gotten freed from the A-Team without a sacrifice. Nobody had gotten freed from the A-Team, period. Why were Spencer and Toby suddenly so different? What made them so special?

They'd gone days, weeks, months without the wrath from their stalker frenemy. Mona hadn't said anything too alarming, and it's not as though they'd been given any reason to worry that this period of silence was anything less than for the long haul. But when all of a sudden, seemingly out of the blue, they started receiving threatening messages that were warning them of otherwise, the situation had drastically began to change. Maybe they weren't let off as easy as they once had thought. Maybe -A was saving them for later, waiting like a prowling tiger for just the right time to attack their prey.

It's still an open ended question as to why it's _now _that they suddenly need them back to do their dirty work for them. Is it simply because they want to prove the statement that nobody gets away that easy from the A-Team, or is there more to it than that? Do they have something larger planned, something they've been plotting since before that night at the lodge when they took off their hoodies the last time they did?

The thought leaves an uneasy feeling in Spencer's stomach, a bitter taste in her mouth. But it's not as though she's had a lot of time to dwell on this; the messages warning her and Toby about their future involvement had only begun about a month or so ago. It all started after they received the check on their first official dinner date.

_"I can't believe you talked me into letting you pay," Spencer's post feminist side had told her boyfriend as the waiter brought it over to where they'd sat. "I told you I have no problem doing it myself; it's not even my money... And you just work so hard for yours..."_

_"Spence," Toby responded softly as he finished taking out his wallet and set the cash on the table, "I told you_ _that_ I _don't mind either. Just let me pay, okay? I like spending my money on you, on us. It's okay."_

_Reluctantly but also a little awestruck, Spencer opened her mouth to say something in response, but a subtle __note in red bleeding through the back of the check put her words to an automatic halt. Her insides felt like they had descended straight to hell as she slowly picked up the sheet of paper and turned it around so she could properly read the words. She knew that handwriting; she would know it anywhere. "Toby..."_

___**'Pease-porridge hot, pease-porridge cold, your time with us didn't even make it nine days old. Come back, or you'll be the one who's cold - rotting in a body bag.  
Don't forget to tip the waiter! xo'**_

___"That doesn't even make any sense."_

And it had gone like that for days on end, one ominous threat after another, leaving Spencer and Toby with their mouths wide open and their hearts beating fast. Funny how they'd been through this type of thing for longer than is even possible to count on one calendar, yet they'd never quite grown immune to this overwhelming pang of emotion that they're both attempting to mask.

Even now, as they stand face to face with the five foot-two psychopath who had gotten them into this whole debacle in the first place, there's this whirlwind of emotions that just won't seem to go away. It's something of a mix between terror and of total dead-set annoyance, and Mona must be able to sense this because she crosses her black-covered arms, cocks an eyebrow and says, "If you're having second thoughts, good. You're not supposed to feel good about this."

"You say that as if we have a say," Toby remarks, his eyes narrow and his jaw clenched.

"I say that because I _know _you don't have a say," she replies simply. "It's a wonder you two made it out as bruise-free as you did back then, but I guess I don't make the orders; I only take them. They told me to let you off, that one day it'll come back to bite you in the ass, so I did. This day is a long time coming; for a while there, I thought the higher-ups were frankly all bark and no bite. You guys deserve this. It's always been in the cards for you."

"Shut up, Mona," Spencer puts in, her patience running thin. "We're here now, and obviously there's no getting out. So do you mind sharing what you called us here for, or was it only just to gloat?"

"No, no, there's a reason," Mona says coolly. "You're going to love this plan, I just know it. It involves getting rid of Alison for good, the way she should have been two years ago."

"Who says we want Alison gone?" Spencer asks sharply.

"Don't play dumb, Spencer. You play it off like you're okay with it, but we all know her homecoming has only worsened the demons you already have in your previously institutionalized mind." At this, Toby fold his fingers into a tight fist and he seriously resists the urge to use it to knock the words right out of her. "And Toby, come on. That girl made your life a living hell-hole. You'd be lying if you said you're happy that she's back. Be honest; you would both be far better off if she just went away. And I know just the way to make that happen."

A sick, maniacal smirk spreads across her face and she studies the look that now completely overtakes her two favorite double-crossers. It's not as though they wish that Alison was dead; they wouldn't wish that fate upon anybody except for maybe A. It's just that, quite frankly, their lives were simply better off when she was supposedly living it up in a grave. They don't want her dead, just maybe out of their lives.

"And how are we going to do that?" Toby challenges, although he's not completely sure he wants to hear the answer.

"By using your double agent status to its fullest magnitude, obviously. Except this time, instead of bidding against us, it'll be against them. They're not going to know what hit them by the time this is all over," Mona declares. "You haven't said anything to anyone, have you?"

"Besides each other? No," Spencer answers. "But what makes you so sure that we won't?"

"Because I have your lives hanging over each of your heads, duh. If you say something, Spencer, Toby pays the price. If Toby says something, you do. It's simple logic, really. And something tells me that neither of you are ready to experience the loss of the other just yet. Well, in your case, Spencer, experience it _again_."

Spencer grips Toby's wrist as if on reflex, clearly reliving that infamous night in the woods all over again inside her head. She definitely isn't ready for that, not again; she fights back the urge to break down, the tears now threatening to fall like a rainstorm in the middle of a tornado. Toby senses this and comfortingly takes her hand in his, tracing soft, soft patterns along the inside of her palm. If he could in that moment, he would take her in his arms and hold her until her reoccurring pain at last had disappeared; he would hold her until the end of time.

"That's what I thought," Mona says after a while, obviously noticing the sudden change in demeanor in the room. "Now, you like games, right?"

When Spencer nor Toby say anything in response, she takes it as her cue to go on; she inhales dramatically, always the one for theatrical effects. "Because we're going to be playing a whole lot of them; just be sure you bring your A-game, and don't do anything that will screw this up. Are you ready for your mission?"

The couple exchanges a look and they immediately come to the consensus that they're not going to like this, not one bit. But at this point there's no turning back, no backing down, so they raise up their chins, straighten their posture, and tune in for what is sure to be an awfully wild ride. The term wild is not to be used loosely, though; there's no saying just exactly what they've gotten themselves into but, soon enough, they'll be sure to find out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorrrrrrry for the delay but here you guys go: chapter 2 :) I decided that this is no longer limited to only a three-shot, because I really just have to leave room for the plot to really progress and etc so that's basically what took me so long; I had to plan this whole baby out and stufffffff. But yeah. Anyways. On with the story!**

* * *

The next day at school is a bit of a bust, if Spencer is being completely honest with herself. It's like this most days, though; senior year hasn't exactly been the most productive in the terms of academics. She'd never pictured herself being this type of student, one who puts off her studies and absolutely dreads going to school. Every time she steps foot inside that place it's like any sense of time just suddenly stands still, like she's in some sort of a contraption from the future that just freezes the world and stops the clocks from ticking. The days usually drag on and on and on and on, but this particular one is especially egged on to her for some reason.

Well, maybe it's not for _some _reason. Maybe it's for _the _reason. Their conversation from last night with the devil in Prada has been etched into her mind since the moment she and Toby stepped foot out of the layer, and she hasn't been able to think about much anything else because of it. Lying to everybody else was one thing, but lying to the girls? It was entirely new territory; they'd always gone through the heavy stuff together as a unit, but now the tables were completely and totally turning. It was like her first time working with the A-Team all over again; it had been difficult then and it is difficult now, and she isn't quite sure how long she'll be able to keep up this charade. But it's not as though she has any resemblance of a choice now. Her only hope of ending this the plan she and Toby are trying to come up with, but even that's a long shot considering they haven't even figured out what it is yet.

Now she and the girls sit in lunch, and Hanna's going on endlessly about some new shoe-line she discovered with free shipping and quality buckles, but Spencer's not really tuning in. She's playing with her salad fork, although she's not so much bringing it up to her mouth, more like just mindlessly staring at the pattern on the table and shutting out the world. Emily must sense her lack of apatite as well as lack of focus so she says, "Spence, it that table really that interesting or is there something else on your mind?"

Shaking her head, Spencer replies, "Oh, yeah, I just have this really big French thing coming up next period and I'm going over the questions in my head so I don't freeze up during it. I need all the extra practice I can get, you know?"

It's total bullshit but it seems to bode over well with the girls, although she swears she sees a bit of doubt in Emily's eyes; she isn't sure, though, so she doesn't press any further. She can't afford to without them getting suspicious, anyway.

"You know what? I think I'm gonna head to the library, now that I think about it. It's just so loud out here and I really have to pass this thing so I'm just gonna go study inside, if that's okay. I'll see you guys later." She grabs her backpack and climbs herself out of the table, suddenly really needing the space.

"Spence!" Aria practically yells, trying to catch her before she leaves their presence completely, "Are you still going to my place later for our girl's night?"

Right. Girl's night. Except she's supposed to meet up with Toby tonight; they have plans to conspire against the A-Team, and there's really no competing with that considering it's their only shot of getting out of this entire screwed up mess.

"Uh, I'll text you later. I totally forgot about that til now, and I have this other big test that I have to study for tomorrow... I'm sorry. I don't think that I can. Rain-check?" She feels absolutely terrible for yet _another _lie, but she honestly believes that it's for the best; it's to finally get this to be over for them. Maybe they'll thank her later, if their plan works out and she even makes it to 'later' alive.

"We could help you if you wanted, you know," Emily puts in. "Quiz you and stuff?"

"I... would love that, but I promised myself when I first found out about it that I'd study for this one on my own," Spencer fumbles out as she deepens herself further into her lie. "Major studies show that the best grades are earned that way since there are less distractions, and honestly I really need to ace this test; it's so important. I'll just be in my room, at my desk, alone. I feel terrible; I really am sorry that I can't make it." Well at least that last part is true.

And with that Spencer hurries away once again, ignoring what was sure to be an understanding "alright" from the girls. They truly are so great, which is why lying to their faces like this is just so freaking hard. Guilt washes through her body like a wave in the middle of a monsoon as she makes her way over to wherever it is that she's off to; she still doesn't know yet.

She doesn't actually have any desire to go to the library, although she really could use the study time; her grades are plummeting much like everything else in her life right now. A ping pong match plays along in her mind as Spencer weighs the different options that she has for right now. Hanging with the girls is out for sure, but what about Caleb? She might be able to find him; they usually get along well. Or she could look for Andrew and actually hit the books, but that option has her bored already so it doesn't seem too likely that she'll choose it. Her first choice is Toby, naturally, but she knows that going to his place and coming back would really be cutting it close considering there's only about fifteen minutes left in the period and she really does have a greatly weighted test next class.

Spencer eventually realizes that she's losing time just thinking about ways to spend it, so she makes the decision to go to the library after all. It's not like she actually studies, though; she's using her brain for something far more important than that. Racking her left cerebrum, the part of the brain that's used for logical thinking, Spencer allows herself to get lost in theories and scenarios as she thinks of ways to possibly figure this out, to end it all.

She sits at an empty table and scribbles hasty yet still somehow thought-out words and letters and graphs, desperately wishing for one of them to end up being the one that works out in the end. One of them has to work out in the end. Being caught up with the A-Team for the rest of their lives is something that Spencer absolutely will not let be their reality, so she writes on and on and on; she picks as far into her mind as it's possible and thinks as hard as she can until her pores are practically sweating out blood.

She's working so intently that she barely hears the bell ring when it does; it's only when she sees the other students walking with their bags out of the corner of her eye that she realizes she's used all her time. Gathering her things hastily, she makes her way out the library doors, down the stairs, and into her next class to take that test. She's not quite sure if she'll ace this one, but it suddenly dawns on her that she doesn't actually care as much as she once would have; there are much more pressing problems to be worrying about.

And it goes like that until the end of the day, until the very last bell goes off and it's finally time to walk out the doors of this prison cell; the time could not have come soon enough. She avoids contact with any of the girls because, frankly, she can't bear to face them when she's keeping something as huge as this from them. Toby's out job hunting and it's not as if her parents are about to pick her up, so she drives herself back home. It's empty, but it's also kind of revivifying; the silence is perfect for what her mind needs right now.

_"Still on for tonight?" _Spencer punches in a quick text for her boyfriend before sitting back in the seat of her desk and picking off where she left off earlier that day in the library.

Spencer smiles when she hears her phone go off, and she just knows that it's Toby; her stomach flutters a little. _"Of course. I'll pick you up 8, if that's okay?"_

_"That's perfect. See u then :)"_

The rest of the afternoon Spencer spends with her planning, because there's truly nothing she can think of in this moment that she's ever wanted more than she wants to finally be able to put an end to all this. And it's not only this new thing with her and Toby being stuck back on with the A-Team, but more just... everything. The "A" texts, the lies, the secrets, the deaths, the anxiety and nightmares she's had ever since it all began. She thinks that maybe, just maybe, if she works her brain hard enough, she'll be the one who will be able to put an end to all of it. It's wishful thinking but, at the same, it's all she has to hold on to; she can't live like this forever.

* * *

"It's so pretty," Spencer whispers mindlessly as she cuddles up with Toby on the hood of their truck and looks up into the clear night sky overlooking the town of Rosewood. It's clearer than it's been in a while, and quite frankly it's refreshing; their time spent with Mona has them just about ready to scream, and it's nice to have a reminder that there's still at least some good left inside this mess of a world. "It's almost like if you look up there for long enough, the stars'll send something down - like a portal or a vortex or something - and we could just just escape from here forever, disappear into oblivion."

"Yeah," Toby whispers back. "Sounds nice, doesn't it? Maybe if we just lie here long enough they'll take us, eventually. Get tired of us staring at them for as long as we've been."

Burying her face into the sweatshirt on his chest, Spencer doesn't say anything in response; not yet anyway. She just closes her eyes and lets the velvety sound of his voice run laps around her head. If the stars won't take them and give them the peace they desperately need, moments like this will suffice as long as she can memorize everything about them; as long as she can replay them again and again in her mind whenever the going gets too tough.

She listens to the faint chirping of the crickets and wonders briefly what it's like to be so carefree. She listens to the sound of his breathing and notices how particularly choppy it is tonight; it's not as though he's usually calm and his breaths are typically steady, but still a piece of her heart cracks a little at how the circumstances have him so, so broken. Every once in a while a car would drive by, but other than that it's just them, the crickets, the moon, and the stars. Oh how wonderful things would be if it could be like this forever.

"Spence," Toby says suddenly, shaking his head, "this is spiraling out of control. This whole thing... It's only getting worse."

"But aren't spirals kind of our thing?" It's meant to come out as sarcastic, however these words come out seeping with an immense amount of underlying pain; these words ring true, and they're both completely and tragically aware. What went down back in the hurricane of November will never be an easy topic to bring up; they may never be able to have a conversation about that time without subconsciously tip-toeing around it, but at least they do somewhat acknowledge that it happened instead of just pretending it was never once a vital puzzle piece of the nightmare of their lives. And for now, at least, that's going to have to be enough. No matter how much it still hurts.

He smiles slightly at her but his eyes show no sign of happiness; they are instead laced with a devastating sense of understanding. They are laced with remorse, with fear, with love.

Toby doesn't respond, though; it's as though they made a silent agreement back in that motel room on the night of their reunion to just leave everything there, to never again go too in depth about the dark ages after that initial emotion-inducing conversation. Instead he simply takes her hand, wraps his fingers around hers, and leans his head down so that he can leave a kiss upon her knuckles. When he hears Spencer sigh in contentedness, he takes it as his cue to continue on with the more tasking conversation at hand.

"I know this is hard," he begins again. "It's especially hard for you, and I am so, so sorry that it has to be this way. If I could somehow change the circumstances, find some sort of loop hole to get us out of this web that we're tangled in because of me, believe me when I tell you I would do it in a heartbeat. But I just don't know what other options we have, you know?"

Spencer waits a beat before responding, wanting to fully take in the entirety of his words. It's not as if he'd said a lot, but he had definitely said enough. She shakes her head and traces the tips of her thumbs against the edges of his palms. "What do you mean 'this web that we're tangled in because of me'? This isn't your fault."

"But it is," he counters. "Really, if I had never joined in the first place... Well, a lot of things would have been prevented, but you wouldn't have taken Mona up on her offer and you wouldn't have joined the team either. If I never became a part of it, you never would've become a part of it, and right now we wouldn't be dealing with any of this."

"You're ridiculous," she breathes incredulously as she re-positions herself in his arms. She's shaking her head again. "There are _so _many people that we could blame this all on: Alison, Red Coat, whoever is after us, Mona. I'd personally go for the latter option, but hey, that's just me. _She _recruited _you_, Toby. You didn't ask to join her on this twisted, screwed up mess of a thing; she recruited you. And what were you supposed to say? She offered you a way that you thought would keep me safe from all this, to keep me alive, and in a lot of ways that makes you the hero figure in this whole situation. How were you supposed to know how wrong it would all turn out? How were you supposed to know it was doomed to end up the way it did?"

When Toby doesn't say anything, Spencer manages out a short-lived grave laugh. "See, you couldn't have possibly prevented this. There's no way you could have known."

"But I should have read the signs... I should have realized that there was no way, none whatsoever, that Mona could have had our best interest in mind when she asked me to be a part of it with her. I should have known that there would be some sort of backlash, some repercussions..." He blinks away the tears that could quite easily come cascading down at any moment. "I was supposed to help end this, help save you. Instead I only made it worse and I can't even think of a way to make it go away and if I could just - "

Spencer has enough with his rambling, with his endless blame upon himself, so she shuts him up with the collision of her lips against his. She finds herself rapidly losing oxygen as she feels the way they move so perfectly well along with one another; she's already breathless just being in his presence, but the sudden contact makes her feel like she's just about ready to pass out. They stay like this for a while and, the A-team be damned, it seems as though their problems have all just melted away into the imaginary place of oblivion. However, reality soon kicks in and they reluctantly force themselves to break away from their illusive sense of paradise.

"That's one way to tell me to stop talking," Toby grins slightly, but it disappears as soon as it had first showed up. "I'm sorry; I know you hate it when I blame myself for all this."

"I do," she replies. "I get it, though; why you think this is your fault. But you have to stop thinking that way, okay? There's no way we're ever going to survive this if you keep throwing yourself under the bus."

Toby lets this sink in and ultimately realizes that his girlfriend is right. They're going to have to keep their past behind them if there is any way they're going to make it to the future. "You're right. You always are."

"I know," Spencer smiles. She pushes herself against the hood of the truck so that her body is upright now, and she tugs lightly on Toby's hands so that he can follow suit. She's always said that our brains have better odds of conjuring up ideas and useful thoughts when our bodies are sitting up straight. "Now, we need a plan of our own. Mona's one is really pissing me off. Any ideas?"

He shakes his head. "Not any that would work. I considered the possibility of fake IDs and illegally crossing the border to Mexico, but... It doesn't seem too practical." It was said half as a joke, half in all seriousness, but ultimately running away was never truly an option. Toby vowed a long time ago to leave his life of running behind; however, that's not to say that if Spencer were to suggest the scenario, he wouldn't be all for it. Toby would want nothing more than to get the hell out of this mess of a town and start completely new with the love of his life in a place far, far away.

Spencer spits out a laugh and a sarcastic "right" before actually supplementing an answer. "I have a couple ideas, but honestly there's not even one that has enough potential to get us out of this. One idea could be groundbreaking, foolproof even, but somehow they could still manage a way to stop us in our tracks and shut us completely down. It's always a possibility."

"But that shouldn't stop us from trying," Toby responds, wrapping his strong, muscular arms back around her shoulder; it's where they belong, after all. "Just tell me what you have. We have to at least put up some sort of a fight."

"Um," she begins almost bashfully, "okay. I do have one. But don't shut it down before I have the chance to fully map it out, okay? Do you trust me?"

"With everything I have," he assuredly replies, his eyes piercing into hers.

Spencer inhales. She's conjured up a lot of plans in her time as a real-life Nancy Drew, but this one could very well prove to be the most relevant of them all. She and Toby are technically a part of the A-Team again now, and there's truly no saying what unspeakable horrors they're going to have to endure, what unspeakable horrors they're going to have to commit. They have everything to lose, including themselves and their friends and their lives, so this plan is going to have to be a damn good one. She subconsciously scoots over a little closer to Toby, suddenly needing desperately the support system that only he can provide.

It's either this or to silently work together from the inside, and they both know how well that plan worked out for them when they'd attempted it the last time; nobody had benefited from that, and the night had ended in a lodge up in flames.

No. This new plan is going to work. It has to.

"Toby," she begins before going on to continue with her proposal. She's scared, terrified even, to hash out all the details of what is very likely to come some time in the future. But somehow just being with him, his strong arms sheltering her from the unpredictability of the world, it's as if she can do anything now. No sense of fear or uncertainty or anything really can stop her now; with Toby, she can take on the world. And together, Spencer truly believes, they will finally put a halt to this never ending madness; together, they can do anything.

Now it's just a matter of how long that mindset is actually going to last.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi guys :) Sorry, this isn't a real chapter... It's only an a/n and I'm pretty sure it's like, against fanfic rules to do this buuuuuuuut. I have to.

I posted this initially because I had the first two chapters written out, and I really liked where they were going. I started planning out the rest after I posted the first chapter on here, but it just got super difficult coming up with more plotlines/story arcs/etc, and my biggest regret is sharing this with you guys before I had it all figured out. I originally thought this to be a three shot, but then I got to thinking about how I really saw this whole thing with the A-Team going down, and I came to realize that it's going to require A LOT more chapters than just three to accomplish what I had outlined for this. So I planned and plotted and made diagrams and wrote on my word document and everything, but I still couldn't figure out all the crooks for this story that I knew I needed to; the ones I should have had planned out from the beginning.

I really am so sorry that I have to do this, but until further notice I just cannot follow through with this story. It requires a lot of dedication and time, and I just don't have that at the moment. My life recently got super busy (I started driver's ed and have so much softball going on and I babysit too, as well as have somethinggggg resembling a social life), so I honestly just... I can't. Not right now. I do not plan on abandoning this story completely, though, so please know that :) I just need time to give this story the justice I feel that it deserves, and right now I just can't do that. I really am sorry; I hope that when I do come back (whenever that is), you guys will be here waiting for me? But if not, I get it, and I love you all just the same :) (sorry I was born sappy; I can't control it lol)

Until then, I will probably be posting more oneshots, if inspiration strikes me and an idea won't leave my head or something. But mostly whenever I do writing it will probably be for this story, because I honestly have no idea how much time it's going to take for me to get it all worked/figured out... But yeah, this definitely isn't the last of me; so keep an eye out ;)

Thank you all for understanding. I love you guys so much :)))


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